Dragon City bustled with activity as construction workers dug foundations and laid masonry under the guidance of the elves.
In many ways, medieval construction was much simpler than its modern counterpart. For instance, the towers of steel and concrete that stood tall over modern cities would make no appearance here. The highest the artisans of San Soliel could do for ordinary residences were 2 – 3 stories. And as the resource requirements were fairly basic – wood and stone – it wasn’t difficult to get the ball rolling on simple buildings.
Louie had played with the idea of using cement, but ultimately he decided against it. It was revolutionary technology to be sure and would give him an immediate short-term advantage against his competitors, but it was too easy to steal the method for creating it if he didn’t do it all by himself.
With their larger populations, nations which used cement in their construction would be able to eclipse Dragon City’s industrial output. For now, San Soliel would have to make do with the magical equivalent of cement that was already in use.
Louie’s intention was to train a group of low-ranked mages and have them use the spell [Create Cement] to manufacture batches of the substance. He would then use it to pave the roads and build better walls and houses. As other countries would be unable to copy it, he could form a monopoly on it.
The layout for the residential area was thus fairly basic for now. As he knew that many more people would join the city later on, he made sure to leave a lot of space for future expansion
As for the area closest to his nest, in other words, the noble district, Louie had carefully planned it out. It needed to be built following the exact details of his plan, so he sent his most efficient people there. Under Marches’ instruction, he began to rebuild the area.
All the houses in this city were rebuilt to be two to three stories tall in order to raise the population density. In a few years, after the population rose and Dragon City became the most yearned for on the continent, he would be able to grant accommodations to talented individuals. This way he could buy their goodwill and service.
The supervisors of the noble district were all elves. These elves were not as strict as human supervisors, but they cared more about the details. But the people who came to work here had been specially chosen from the populace. The elves were not worried that they would slack off. As long as they carefully monitored their work and did not create any hazards, it was enough.
As for the people working there, they could also see that large forces of elves had been coming and going. They had ridden horse-like animals to pull carts carrying transport supplies. Even the elven army’s hippogryphs were being used to transport supplies. The scene looked extremely busy. Moreover, let alone seeing so many elves, this was the first time many people had ever seen any.
These supplies were food that the great dragon promised to give the elves. But due to the lack of manpower in Dragon City, the elves had to transport the goods by themselves.
There was indeed space-type equipment in this world, but those were mostly legendary rank items, and most of them could only store a small number of items. Furthermore, they were extremely rare and only possessed by powerful mages. On the other hand, those with large storage spaces were classified as divine weapons. Those things were rare to the point of unattainable.
If this world was flooded with space-type equipment, then caravans wouldn’t be needed anymore. Trade between countries would be much more frequent and developed, preventing the economy of the world from being so backward.
So for all races and countries, the delivery of goods still relied on caravans.
Rome was not built in a day. It was impossible to finish all construction in Dragon City within a short time period especially when Louie was trying to change the entire city’s design. However, he was not in a hurry. Dragons were creatures that could sleep for years let alone a few months.
Louie was finally getting used to the fact that his own life expectancy now far exceeded that of humans, and might even become infinite someday. He had to stop himself from using a human perspective to look at time, else he would just be making things painful for himself. Humans were always in a hurry due to their relatively short lifespans, but long-lived races and Gods would even use hundreds and thousands of years just to finish one task. Louie was also learning how to spend his time doing worthless activities.
There was no eternity in kingship, only Gods were immortal!
Everything he did right now was for the sake of his future ascension to godhood. All the wealth and power he could accumulate along the way was simply illusory compared to that.
As the sun set, the day’s work was over. The workers were now sitting on the ground panting, resting, and laughing among themselves. Although the work was exhausting, excitement remained in their expressions. This was because happiness was about to come. Their lord was going to distribute the day’s pay – refined wheat and some meat!
Louie understood human nature quite well. If you helped people too much, they would become dependent on your aid. And if you then took it away, then they would definitely hate you.
So the food Louie distributed to each family was counted by head. This way, they could eat their fill but not have much food left over. He could increase the reward by a little for those who worked harder, as this was the best way to spur them into action.
Even if the food Louie had was blown in by a storm and there were no problems giving everyone a ton of goods, once he did so, other than gaining the gratitude of these commoners, he wouldn’t gain anything else. It would not take long for them to become greedier and lazier.
So, giving them proper rewards and decreasing the pay was important.
“Everyone line up for your pay!” an elf shouted.
People began to quietly and neatly arrange themselves in a queue. Those who cut in line to disrupt the previous days had been brought to the square and whipped. As a result, no one dared to make trouble this time.
“John!”
Old John heard someone call him, and it was an elven soldier. He hastily bent over and let out his best smile while feeling apprehensive at the approaching elf.
This male elf frowned at the human in front of him but soon relaxed. The humans were now not as smelly as before. Although they were still a little dirty, the elves could accept this level of cleanliness when he compared it with other cities out there.
“You have been working very hard recently and even relied on your own knowledge to lead others to do a better job. The Great Lord Caracolon knows how to punish and reward people. Under his instructions, this will be the reward for your contribution!”
Saying so, the elf handed over a wooden box, but he was showing off an envious look.
Old John was apprehensive and afraid that he had done something wrong, but after hearing the elf’s words, his expression changed to happiness. He kneeled down as if he was receiving the emperor’s edict and carefully accepted the wooden box.
He glanced at the elf and opened it at the other party’s gesture.
“Oh God…”
Old John exclaimed. He stared incredulously at the item inside the box. It was a fork! Ornate and gleaming with a metallic sheen, it seemed to be a work of art!
It had an exquisite appearance, smooth without any rough edges, and precise to the millimeter. No one doubted that it was an item that could only be made by a dwarven master craftsman!
Of course, modern assembly line production could easily reach such levels of accuracy…
Louie had taken the fork when he looted the freighter. Perhaps its original owner was one of the crew members. Louie, however, had no use for it and felt disgusted at the thought that it might have been used before, so he simply used it as a reward for excellent behavior.
The elven soldier also looked at the fork with envy. Although the pattern was not in line with the elves’ sense of beauty, the sophisticated square arrangements on it implied that they were crafted with great skill. Only the elven nobles would have access to such a fine piece of art!
Now, this fork was given to a human commoner. This made the elves on site extremely jealous to the point that they wanted to roll up their sleeves and go move some bricks!
“The lord has said that the fork is endowed with magic. It will not rust, so you must keep it well!”
“Please rest assured that I will love it like my child and treat it as a family heirloom so that my descendants will never forget the gift of the great lord!”
‘Oh God, it’s an enchanted cutlery fork, and it won’t rust!!!’
Old John almost fainted in excitement. If Louie was in front of him, he might just kneel down in worship!
The fork would indeed not rust, because it was made of stainless steel……